I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. I 

I # 

FORCE COLLECTION.] i 

J «*„/., Jtft07/ } 

g e^^ jj_ ^ 

! UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, i 



CRITO's LETTERS. 



TO THE 



ELECTORS OF THE UNITED STATES, 



ON THE 



COMMERCIAL REPRESENTATION; 



AND TVE 



SEAT OF GOVERNMENT 



— • -*~"~ All things invite 

To peaceful coiit. is, ^nd the fettled ftate 
Of order, few iu L "y, i ie ft we ma y t 

Compofe our fresen - i" rSi with regard 
Of what we . *e and wutiu, . ^fmiffing quite 

All thoughts of w r — • — — 

To found , .. s . -Vidsn jimp'th ich might rife 

By policy, and long p: cci's m i> ■ x> 
In emulation. 

PARADISE LOST, * J ; ^g, £ j^ 



PHILALELPHf 

PIUNTED BY UARTNAM AND RE'.NO 

fTR* 










*v 



<Y 




ON 

THE COMMERCIAL REPRESENTATION IN 

CONGRESS. 

LETTER I. 

To the Citizens of Philadelphia, and the other Elect 
ors of the United States. 

THE people of Philadelphia have a voice in send 
ing three members to Congress — not to repre. ; 
sent the eity, as would be the case under any other >- 
litical meridian; but a certain congressional district, 
which involves, and confounds, the different interests 
of town and country. 

Those heterogeneous materials, the city of Philadel- 
phia, the county of Philadelphia, and the county of 
Delaware, are all melted up together in one election 
crucible ; and the result of this unskilful process is 
well known to be, that two parts in five are evapo- 
rated, and the remainder, by the time it comes out of 
the smelting pot, is generally converted, from the 
standard weight and value of the precious metal of 
public virtue — not into fine gold, but into dross. 

For although Philadelphia, that is to say, the city 
and its suburbs (one body surely J contains three times 
as many voters, as either of the counties, it is a law 
of courtesy, that each of them should have one repre- 
sentative ; and, consequently, as the whole can send 
but three, the citizens of Philadelphia — good easy 

souls, 



( 4 ) 

bouls, must sit down content with one member to re- 
present a hundred thousand of them. 

By the Constitution of the United States a popula- 
tion of 30,000 souls gave a right to elect one repre- 
sentative ; and the ratio has been since fixed by law at 
33,000 : yet such has been the increase of the com- 
mercial cities, since the operation of the federal sys- 
tem, that Philadelphia, and New- York, now respect- 
ively, contain more than twice the requisite num- 
ber. Why, then, let me ask, should they not each of 
them, send at least two members to the House of Re- 
presentatives, who might combine (and certainly ouglu 
to combine J a variety of talents, in supporting the va- 
rious interests of the first cities of the Union ; where 
the great mass of disposeable wealth, intelligence, and 
activity, must be acknowledged to reside. 

As our right to proportionate representation is now 
managed, or rather mismanaged, a man of talents and 
character is afraid to undertake the arduous responsi- 
bility of defending, alone, upon the floor of Congress, 
the complicated claims of the commercial cities : But, 

" Fools rush in, where angels fear to tread." 

Time was when we sent Lloyds, and Noruis's, 
and Pembertons, and Allen s to our national coun- 
cils.* — Have Ave no such men among us now? Or is 
it by the ride of contraries, that the moral and jui; 
dicious Phiiadelphians, select their representatives, for 
the Congress of the United States. 

Do we need the lantern of Diogenes, in this enlight- 
ened age, to enable us to find a suitable deputy, to the 

National 



* The two Lloyds (Deputy-governor and Prefident of Council, in the 
infancy of Pennfylvania.) The firft and fecond Isaac Norris Speakers of. 
the Affembly. • The firft and fecond Israel Pemberton (Burgeffes.) Wil- 
liam Allen ; Chief Juftice and a le.\ding member of Affembly, till the pe- 
riod of the revolution.) 



I 5 ) 

National Legislature? Who knows, what useful hints 
such a one might suggest to his colleagues, on the si- 
tuation of the public offices (particularly the navy yard 
and the intelligence office) or, if they cannot be re- 
moved to advantage, on the construction of a turnpike 
road, to facilitate occasional communication between 
the officers of government, and the chief towns of the 
Union, the bank, the mint, &c. &c. or, should that 
be voted, by the agricultural interest, a useless expen- 
diture of public money, on the projected improvement 
of the heaths and fens, that immediately surround the 
capitol. 

To be serious. I say, with St. Paul, who was a 
Roman, " I am a citizen of no mean city." And I 
ask my fellow -citizens, Whether it would not be reli- 
giously, as xvell as politically right, that the delegates 
of such a city as Philadelphia should carry with them 
to Congress that kind of consideration which attends 
competent talents, and personal respectability ; and 
that we their otherwise prudent constituents, should 
instruct our respectable burgesses, in the State Legis- 
lature, to attend to the commercial interest, at the next 
census, and, in conjunction with the neighbouring Le- 
gislatures of Maryland, and New- York, procure an 
alteration of the several election districts (which are 
now made to include Philadelphia, New-York and Bal- 
timore, as integral parts of so many fractions) that shall 
give to the inhabitants of each of those thriving cities, 
the fair and reasonable privilege, of sending their own 
members to Congress, in the proportions to which 
their numbers entitle them. 

Should this proposal take effect, and I leave it to 
others to say zvhy it should not, Philadelphia would 
send three burgesses, New- York two, and Baltimore 
one ; which would form a bodv of commercial inffii 



( 6 ) 

ence in Congress— not to counterbalance the agricul- 
tural (for that is impossible) — but to temper the self- 
sufficiency, which so naturally arises from the unre- 
strained exercise of power, in the hands of a hundred 
unresponsible individuals who can out-reason argument 
---by putting it to vote. 

The predominating Agricultural interest, may other- 
wise so totally neglect the Commercial, that the fable of 
" The Belly and the Members," may at last be real- 
ized, in the untimely consumption of the American 
body-politic. 

CRITO. 



i 7 } 

ON 
THE PRESENT SEAT OF GOVERNMENT, 

LETTER II. 

To the Electors of the United States. 

THE capital of a country has been aptly compared 
to the heart, in the human body ; which distri- 
butes the blood, from the centre, to the extremities; 
but the Federal City may be better likened to an issue, 
by which the vital juices are perpetually draining away 

as if the state were in danger of an apoplexy from 

superfluity of health. 

If it be inquired (and the world will make the in-. 

quiry) 

Where are our cities ? The answer must be — 

To the northward. 

Where are our turnpikes, our bridges, our sea ports, 
and other facilities of access or communication ? — 

To the northward. 

Where ore our churches, our colleges, our libraries, 
our moral and political associations ? — 

To the northward. 

Finally, Where is our government? — 

Tending southward. 

That is to say, translating itself, gradatim, from the 
banks of the Delaware, to those of Tyber creek, and 
from those of Tyber creek, to those of the Little Mi- 
ami, or of the great Tombigbee — to Florida, Louisi- 
ana, 



•" or the Lord knows where." 



In the mean time, be it known to the good people 
of the Union, from New -Hampshire to Georgia (for I 

may 



( « J 






may presume without fear of contradiction, that ninety- 
nine hundredths of the youth of the United States grow- 
up to manhood without ever having seen the capital of 
their country) that the national bantling, called the City 
of Washington, remains, after ten years of expensive 
fostering, a rickety infant — unable to go alone. Na- 
ture will not be forced. A sickly child cannot be dressed 
and dandled into a healthy constitution. This embryo 
of the state will always be a disappointment to its pa- 
rents ; a discredit to the fond opinions of its worthy god- 
fathers and godmothers ; and an eye-sore to all its re- 
lations, to the remotest degree of consanguinity. 

The Federal City is in reality neither town nor vil- 
lage. — It may be compared to a hunting-seat, where 
state sportsmen may run horses, and fight cocks ; kill 
Time under cover, and shoot Public Service flying. 

A few scattered hamlets, here and there, indicate a 
sordid, and dependent population ; and two or three 
vast edifices, upon distant hills, so palpably demon- 
strate intermediate vacuity, that Indian sachems, and 
Tripolitan ambassadors, are regularly fitted out for 
a tour to the northward — that they may not return 
home, from Washington, and report nothing but — the 
nakedness of the land. 

There sits the President, during the summer recess 
— like a pelican in the wilderness, or a sparrow upon 
the house top. And when the delegates flock around 
him for the winter, they flutter awhile, from tree t© 
tree, and then settle down by hundreds, and peck and 
flutter, and hop about, without fear of surprise ; the 
hill of the capitol being from one or two furlongs, to 
three or four miles distant, from the neighbouring far- 
mers, and the mischievous urchins of the vicinity. 
Imagine the members of both Houses, on a frosty 
morning, trudging along through mire and snow — like 
so many pilgrims, incurring voluntary hardships, on a 
journey of. penance ; and you will no longer wonder 
that the House is never full at the roll -call, and always 



goes 



( & ) 

goes to business an hour or two after the time of ad- 
journment. I profess, for my own part, I wonder they 
meet, at all, in foul weather. I should suppose a snow- 
storm as likely to be fatal to a parliamentary question, 
at Washington, as a shower of gold, at Westminster ; 
and a bleak north-wester, as sure to blow away anti- 
ministerial opposition, on Capitol-hill, as a puff from 
one of the orators of government, at the palais du tri- 
bunat, in the republique Imperiale. 

If this be the place where our youth imbibe nation- 
al ardour, and our elders study national dignity, no 
wonder that we have dissipated, instead of rectifying, 
the sublimated spirit of fealty and emulation, which 
had been extracted by a skilful chymist, from the bit- 
ter herbs of difficulty and danger, during the revolu- 
tionary struggle. 

In subjoining that I mean Benjamin Franklin, I 
blush for my country to feel myself in the situation of the 
sign-painter, who was so poor a dauber, that when he 
had done his utmost to give his principal figures gene- 
ric, or specific, character, he was obliged, at last, to 
write under them : " This is the man — and this is the 
bear." But such has been the injustice (or the impe- 
netrability) of our historians to the pervading genius of 
Franklin, that if I did not do so I should run the risk 
of being misunderstood — at least on this side of the 
atlantic— on the other, it is well known who was the 
father of the American revolution ; and the inestima- 
ble memorandums of his political life have accordingly 
been richly bid for, and as treacherously betrayed. 

When the Utopian project of an Arcadian seat of 
government, for a rich and powerful nation was first 
suggested in Congress; and had been carried through 
the different departments of government, (for the good 

seme 
B 



( n ) 

sense of the American People was never consulted upon 
the question — its fate was not risked upon that issue) 
— by management — by chicanery — and at length 
by inconsiderate compromise it was remarked, by 
a shrewd politician of the old-school, who had been 
thrown out of the political vortex, by the tornado 
of the revolution,* that one of the worst consequences 
of this absurd experiment would be that paucity of 
talent, and defect of responsibility, which has so pal- 
pably accompanied the change. Few men of great ta- 
lents, or of affluent circumstances, can be induced to quit 
their domestic blessings to remain, for six months at a 
time, in a place where their verv regard for their wives 
would be an inducement to leave them behind, and 
where a father must think it his duty to abstain from 
the pleasing task of overseeing the education of his 
children. 

Intelligence which has been received at Boston, New- 
York, or Philadelphia, it takes three or four days to 
forward to Washington, when, unless Congress is in 
session, it requires almost as many xveeks to summon 
the heads of departments, upon the most pressing oc- 
casion. 

Every stick of timber laid in at Washington for the 
use of the navy, costs the United States double the 
price for which it could be had upon the sea coast — 
where alone it is wanted, if it is wanted at all. And 

here 



* The late Edward Pennington, Efq. one of the twenty-two principal 
citizens of Philadelphia (chiefly of the People called Quakers) who were fe- 
lected under the authority of a general warrant, and banifhed, without a 
bearing, to Staunton, in Virginia, upon General Howe's landing at the Head 
of Elk- They appealed to their country for their well-known piety and pa- 
triotifm ; and their country regiftered the appea! : though it is not to be met 
with, under its proper head, in the partial pages of contemporary hiftory. 

I could dilate upon the fubject of loyalty to the ancient government, and 
others connected with it ; but it is perhaps too early in 1807) to produce the 
juji -weight and even balance with which pofterity will weigh the refpective vir- 
tues of political opponents in the revolution of 1776. 



( 11- ) 

here let me observe, by the way, that if the unfortu* 
nate Chesapeake had been fitted out from the Dela- 
ware the North river, or the still more convenient har- 
bours of Portsmouth, or Newport, instead of being 
expedited a hundred leagues from the sea, and manned 
as many more from the great nurseries of our seamen, 
there would have been no inducement to complete her 
crew with British (or American) deserters ; and our 
peaceable country would probably have been spared the 
mortification of the late unprincipled outrage— to say 
nothing of the risk thereby incurred of blood and trea- 
sure. 

The only powerful countries where the government 
has ventured to sit independently of, and m contempt 
for the people, by absenting itself from their collective 
bodies of vigour, and information, are, or rather were, 
France and Holland. Versailles was only fifteen miles 
from Paris, and the Hague not more than fifty from 
Amsterdam ; yet it may well be doubted whether the 
French revolution would ever have taken place, if Louis 
XVI had resided in his capital, where he could have 
nipped it in the bud ; and Amsterdam might still have 
been the metropolis of an independent republic, if its 
supine governors had been at the head of its efficient 
population. 

May others 1 harms be our warning ; and, since Con- 
gress cannot move Philadelphia to Washington, let 
them, in time, return from Washington to Philadel- 
phia ; where alone they can expect to command the 
national energies, in cases of national emergency. 

Did not Burr (the would-be tyrant of America) de- 
clare that with three hundred men he could drive the 
President and Congress into the Potomac ? And who 
doubts it? A revolution might be effected at Washing- 
ton, as has been so often done in Russia. It might be 
planned, over night ; and announced, in the morning. 

What 



( 12 ) 

W hat is there to hinder it ? but a handful of seainei), 
and half a dozen invalids. — Tell it not in Gath. 

Let not our surplus millions be appropriated to the 
idle purpose of creating a Capital without inhabitants, 
and a Dock-Yard without ships, until the contempt of 
enemies, and the indignation of friends, affix an epithet 
of reproach upon the monument of folly. 

CRITQ. 



( 13 ) 

ON 
THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 

LETTER III. 

To the Electors of the United States. 

HAVING attempted in my second number (with 
whatever success) to shew where the capital of 
the United States ought not to be ; I shall endeavour 
to discover where it ought to be, without employing 
any artificial powers of vision, but merely by the use 
of my eye-sight — under the direction of common sense. 
For this purpose, however, it will be necessary to 
get upon some historical, or traditional eminence, where 
the lofty and imposing superstructures of modern times 
may not interrupt our view of the political horizon ; 
from whose commanding summit we can have a clear 
prospect of places, and situations — their bearings, and 
distances means of communication — and comparative 
importance, in the grand map of American geography. 

Different settlements w r ere made by our European 
ancestors, and different habits began to be formed, by 
different description of settlers, about the same period 
of time, in the two extremities of the widely extended 
territory, which now composes the American Empire, 
and it was not till each of these specific varieties had 
become indigenous, in the course of half a century, 
that the central colonization, which was eventually to 
unite them together, took place in Pennsylvania ; a 
province that was planned and peopled under the aus 
pices of a philanthropic Legislator; at a time when the 
mother-country was infinitely more enlightened in mo- 
ral and political jurisprudence, than it had been by the 
puerile studies, and capricious pursuits of the age of 
James I. 

It 



( 14 } 

It is not necessary to have been a very attentive ob- 
server of men and things — of causes and effects (though 
it has eluded the sagacity of our most voluminous his- 
torians) to have perceived that the thrifty and benefi- 
cent population of the central colony had not only 
united together the two extremes of the north and 
south, in the connecting circle of one geographical 
boundary ; but that its mild and intelligent features 
had already mollified the rigid lineaments of their reli- 
gious and political physiognomy, before the late glori- 
ous revolution had perfected the beneficial conjunction, 
by uniting the then thirteen disconnected provinces, 
under one head ; and calling forth all their energies in 
a common cause.* 

The capital of that colony, in the lapse of half a 
century, had outstripped its ancient neighbours, the 
chief towns of Massachusetts, New- York, and South - 
Carolina; and under the attracting influence of free 
admission to the participation of civil privileges, and 
the exercise of religious rights, had already concen- 
trated such a powerful impetus of well directed exer- 
tion, as laid a broad foundation for that diffused pros- 
perity, of which we now witness the incalculable ef- 
fects. Notwithstanding the sister city of New- York 
(whose rising ascendancy on the c#nmerciai horizon I 
hail with patriotic ardour) is now gathering, by the easy 
inlets of her national sea-port, the ample fruits of that 
provincial confederation, to which the early prosperity 
of Philadelphia, so essentially contributed. 

William 

* See " Marfhall's Life of Wafhington," or more properly, Hijlery of Ame- 
rica, from the difcovery of Columbus, in 5 vols. 8vo. wherein all that isfaid about 
the fettlement of Pennfylvania is fummed up in five or fix pages, which yet 
include a narrative of difputes between the neighbouring proprietors, Balti- 
more and Penn, about their refpedtive boundaries ; the legal conftrudtion, of 
their feveral charters ; and other initiatory arrangements, too infignificant and 
ephemeral to merit notice, in the comprehenfive fcopeof general hiftory. — 
; Appendix, No. I.) 



( 15 ) 

William Pen n, the founder of Pennsylvania, (who 
was born at London in 1644) by the liberality of his 
temper, and the magnitude of his designs, which 
were alike, disproportioned to the resources of a pri- 
vate gentleman, who inherited nothing more from his 
ancestors than a decent patrimony was early in- 
volved in pecuniary difficulties, and his powerful in- 
tellects sunk, prematurely, under the (perhaps incom- 
patible) exercises of religious and political lucubration 
so long before his decease at Rushcomb, near Twyford, 
in Great-Britain, in the year 1718, that the North- A- 
merican colonies had not the benefit of his active vir- 
tues more than twenty, or at most thirty years. 

But Benjamin Franklin, a native of Boston, in 
Massachusetts, who established himself in Philadelphia 
in the year 1723 ; and has been since known to the world* 
not only as one cf the first philosophers, but of the 
most able politicians of the age, had applied the pow- 
ers of his extraordinary mind, to the formation of the 
American character, for half a century before the revo- 
lution of 1776, made manifest the design and tendency 
of his economical apothegms. 

This national luminary irradiated the obscure ex- 
ertions of private industry and public zeal, by means 
of an annual almanac, and a weekly newspaper, which 
were almost the only vehicles that circulated moral and 
political principle throughout the then twelve, or thir- 
teen British Colonies. 

At the mature age of two and forty, Franklin en- 
joyed his first public honour, in conjunction with one of 
the ancestors of the writer of these remarks. It was 
that of representing the city of Philadelphia in the Pro- 
vincial Assembly.* As 

* The fortuitous connexion abovementioned puts me in pofieffion of 
a characfteriftic anecdote, which may ferve to fhow how this confum » 
mate politician nfually concealed his views, whilfl he was influencing others 



( 16 ) 

As early as the year 1754 the political astrologer pre- 
dicted the future revolution of the United Provinces, 
as the natural event of certain arbitrary measures, which 
were then in contemplation cf the British ministry; 
and in J766 he told the assembled Commons of Great 
Britain, with a smile of serenity, peculiar to himself: 
That the People of America never -would submit to 
pay the stamp duty (which had been laid by the au- 
thority of Parliament, without the consent of the Co- 
lonial Legislatures) unless they rvere compelled to do 
•20 — by force of arms. 

It is not incumbent upon me to carry this sketch 
of American history any further ; since, as Penn 
broke up the fallow ; and as Franklin strewed the 
seed; so Washington has already reaped the har- 
vest of applause. The laurel is justly appropriated to 
the head of Washington, but there are oak-leaves 
enough in the American forest to adorn the brows of 
Franklin and of Penn. (Appendix, No. II.) 

When the imprudent resolution of the British Par- 
liament to assert its omnipotence by exacting from 
the American People the payment of a petty imposi- 
tion without their consent had animated the Colonies 
to determined resistance (for the sons of Britain were 
not unworthy of their sire) the place that was fixed 

upon 

to accomplifh them. The two Burgeffes in the Colonial Legiflature were 
to move the Houfe for an appropriation of money, for city purpofes — 
and, as they well knew that the Country Members would be for reducing 
the grant as much as poflible, Franklin affigned to his Colleague, the 
proportion of the fum that was wanted, whilft he himfelf mould urge 
the neceflity of a much larger ; that his Coadjutor , to ufe his own words, 
might jlrike the nail that tvould drive. His friend Dr. Benjamin Rush, 
the° celebrated Profeffor of the inftitutes and practice of Medicine in the Uni- 
verfity of Pennfylvania, who had the honour of fitting with him in the Con- 
grefs that pronounced the independence of America, has an occafional collec- 
tion of his pointed aphorifms, which it is to be hoped he will one day give to 
the world — the lawful Heir of fuch a man as Franklin ; who was lefs an 
inhabitant of Philadelphia, than of North- America; lefs a native of Bofton— 
than a citizen of the world. 



( 17 ) 

upon by universal consent as the best adapted to unite 
their scattered strength (because the steady trade-wind 
of difficulty and danger dispersed the variable gales of 
prejudice and passion) was — the city of Philadelphia. 
It was then considered (without any disparagement to 
the other cities of the Union) as the centre of intelli- 
gence, of population, of credit, of vigour, and every 
other national resource. 

The Declaration of Independence accordingly took 
place in Philadelphia. At Philadelphia, our histories 
inform us fifteen hundred men were raised upon the 
very spur, and pressure, of occasion to enable General 
Washington to make the attack upon Trenton, the 
issue of which gave the first favourable augur to the 
future success of the American cause. And in Phi- 
ladelphia three hundred thousand dollars were sub- 
scribed, in a few days, upon the personal credit of Ro- 
bert Morris, at a time when tie pub 1 ic treasure was 
totally exhausted, to form the Bank of North- America ; 
which enabled Congress to continue the war, till it ex- 
torted the royal recognition of our national sovereign- 
ty.* 

On similar emergencies (God forbid! they should 
ever occur again) wh^re could the President expect to 
find similar aids. I need not answer, in Philadelphia. 
For as New- York was then in possession of the ene- 
my, so it most probably would be again, since its ex- 
posed situation may be said to invite attack. 

Within 



* See the different Hljlories of the American Revolution where the facts ate 
mentioned, with little animadverfion, and ftill lefs acknowledgment, of the in- 
fluence of Franklin in the one case, and of Morr-is in the other — Were our 
nat onal writers fo dazzled by the brightnefs of the planer Washington 
(whofe orb fet in glory) as not to perceive that there were other ftars in the 
American galaxy, whofe courfes, and altitudes, and apparent diameters, will 
be noticed by future obfervers — when the effects of private errors^ and of pub- 
He prepoffefiions, will be, alike, forgiven and forgot. 

c 



( 18 ) 

Within the last ten years ; for the removal of Con- 
gress to Washington, and of the State Legislature to 
Lancaster, have not arrested the progress of Philadel- 
phia — it has never ceased to be virtually, the capital of 
Pennsylvania, and the metropolis of the United States 
— Within the last ten years have been erected in Phi- 
ladelphia, a town hall; two banking houses (one of 
which may serve for a model of simple elegance to the 
first cities in Europe) a hall for surgical and chemical 
experiments (an appendage to the justly celebrated 
school of medicine whose distinguished professors are 
now resorted to from every quarter of the United States) 
seven churches, or meeting houses; four charitable 
foundations, the dispensary and a public school, (both 
for the general benefit of the poor) the new wing 
of the Pennsylvania hospital (for the reception of the 
sick and diseased, whether in body or mind) and the 
new penitentiary for the accommodation, employment, 
and reformation of criminals.* Not to mention that 
whole streets have arisen from the liberal enterprise of 
certain wealthy individuals ; whilst others have vested 
equal sums in disseminating science throughout the L T - 
nion, by means of Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, 
to say nothing of Bibles and School Books — without 
number.! (Appendix, No. III.) 

II 



* This Inftitution, which may, one day, unbind the eyes of hoodwinked 
jufiice, and Iheath for ever, her vindictive fword, originated, at firft (and it it 
perpetuated by the fame fpontaneous and unobtrufive means" in the private 
exertions of men uninozvn to the -world, and fear crfy noticed by their contemporaries. 
But if the bold idea of radical reformation mould be realized to its full extent 
(and the hope, however prefuming may be reafonably indulged the practical 
philofophers of the new penal code will merit a place in the temple of 
civic virtue. Above all Greek — above all Roman fame. 

\ A naturalized Citizen (a native of France, who has raifed himfelf in the 
New World, by the regular purfuit of induftry and trade i and who was before 
wellkuown to the American public for his humane exertions during the fever 
of 1793, has purchafed a plot of ground at the expense of a hundred and 
twenty thoufand dollars) it is faid, with the magnificent view ot erecting, 
or endowing, a Marine Hospital — an object of National juftice, and of 
National munificence, which has been utterly loft fight of— in the woods 
st Washington. 



( 19 ) 

If Congress continued to sit where the policy of '76 
assembled them, the prepossession of ancient usage 
would form a barrier against future change. There 
would then be little danger of being drawn, step after 
step, by the already preponderating, and perpetually 
increasing influence of South- Western Territory, and 
South- Western Population, from the coasts of the At- 
lantic, to the shores of the Missisippi. A considera- 
tion which will I trust obtain its due weight, with all 
who wish to preserve for their posterity, commercial 
equilibrium, and presidential rotation. 

If Congress sat in Philadelphia, the Chief Executive 
Magistrate would be at the fountain head of intelligence 
and communication, surrounded by men of informa- 
tion every way qualified to form an occasional privy- 
council ; and the members of the two Houses could 
be comfortably accommodated, during the session, 
where they might have access to public libraries, and 
recourse to men of professional abilities, upon points 
of law or usage ; and the Heads of Departments, upon 
whom the administration may be said to devolve at 
least, one half of the year, might be expected to reside 
at the seat of government, or be — at least within call, 
during the unavoidably long recess. 

The people would then see — or at least, hear of 
their rulers ; and they would be far less likely than they 
now are to undertake to govern themselves — by mobs, 
and town-meetings, and party-toasts, and after-dinner 
resolutions. 

If Government were thus concentrated, as it ought 
to be (with all reverence be it spoken) in the very focus 
of foreign and domestic intelligence, there would hard- 
ly be a possibility of fitting out a Miranda expedi- 
tion — without their knowing it ; or revolutionizing the 
South- Western Territory — without their suspecting it ; 

or, 



( 20 ) 

or, suspecting it, and even defeating it — without be- 
ing able to prove its existence* 

No ; government would then know what was doing 
in all parts of the Union ; and in ail parts of the Union, 
the people would know what the government was do- 
ing ; and what — it i»as leaving undone. 

Foreign ministers, who (with all due respect to the 
privileges of the diplomatic corps) are no where the 
most likely people to give favourable impressions of 
the countries in which they reside, would he less likely 
to contract dislikes to a place in which they could form 
agreeable connexions, and amuse their leisure with in- 
teresting studies, or polished recreations. 

The citizens of the different states, and strangers 
from distant countries, who are continually passing 
through the natural capital of a country, on business, 
or amusement, would no longer be strangers to the 
mild and equitable administration, which they could 
know, but to revere ; and that national spirit, or po- 
pular prepossession in favour of one's own country — 
its habits, and its laws, without which no form of go- 
vernment ever did, or ever can long subsist, would gra- 
dually engraft itself upon ostensible objects of esteem 
and veneration. 

I do not love changes. Let me not be suspected of 
the lust of innovation. I deprecate the encroachments 
that are yearly making, under specious, or popular, 
pretences, upon the Constitution of '87. It is the 
Palladium of political salvation. Let it not 
be touched by sacrilegious hands. But may all par- 
ties unite, as with the heart of one man, to bring 
back the Ark of the Covenant, and place it again in 
the City of our Fathers, 

It 



( 21 ) 

It will be objected to the proposed removal, or rather 
the proposed return : That Philadelphia is liable to the 
yellow fever. I answer that it was never so but in 
hot weather; and is that no longer, since the port 
regulations have been properly enforced. The same 
might be said of London, or any other European sea- 
port with regard to the plague. 

It will be objected, That the public faith is pledged 
to the holders of property in Washington. — Be it so ; 
and let eveiy one of them be paid off, as public credi- 
tors, to the full amount of their claims. — It would be 
a cheap purchase of national character, and political 
efficiency. 

It will be objected, That the public buildings, offices 
of government, president' \s house, &c. &c. &c. will be- 
come useless. — Be it so, I say again. In Philadelphia 
there are better ones, for the purpose, now standing 
unoccupied ; and necessary additions, if any, might be 
made, in six months, at less expense, I am bold to 
say, than will be thrown away, in the same space of 
time, towards finishing the halls of the two Houses, 
and repairing the palace of the President — little as those 
magnificent edifices are adapted to the present Chief 
Magistrate's philosophical habits ; or the general system 
of Be public an simplicity — -which God, long, preserve. 

CRITO 



WFERTJSEMENT 



I 



ADVERTISEMENT. 

A copious Appendix of proofs and illustrations cri- 
tical historical and explanatory, -was intended to have 
accompanied these Letters ; and the mat trials are now 
ready for the press, should they be called for by the 
public voice : but the writer has been advised by ju- 
dicious patriots to rest, at least for the present, the mo- 
mentous question of the Removal of the Seat of Govern- 
ment upon the good sense of the country — whether in 
or out of Congress — trusting that the grand jury of 
the nation, after examining the evidence, will find ac- 
cording to their consciences. Wc shall therefore con- 
clude with inserting the following collateral essays 
which appeared in Rronson s United States Gazette, 
and Foulsori's American Daily Advertiser, as the Let- 
ters of Crito were going through those independent 
presses. 



No. I. 
A DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW FEDERAL HALL. 

IT is an edifice of the Corinthian order, 120 feet fquare, at the diftance of 
ioc feet to the fouth of Major L'Enfant's ill-planned wing, in which the 
two Houfes have heretofore been fo wretchedly accommodated — witnefs the 
puddle? under the fky lights — the crumbling cielings, and the rattling fafhes 
thofe unwelcome interrupters of many an elaborate harangue. The two 
wings are eventually to be connected by a portico, one or two hundred feet 
long, aud a court, furmounted by a dome, two «r three hundred feet hiVh, 
round which foreign minifters and Yazoo nabobs may fwing to the fide doors 
and alight under cover, in chariots and four, or coaches and fix, furrounded with 



( 24 ) 

■all the paraphernalia of European parade. But the Shades of our Fathers begin to 
frown upon the anti-republican Structures. What would the ghofts of Han- 
cock and Adams, of Warren and Montgomery, exclaim at the fight- 
could they by fome powerful incantation be evoked from the dead- " Alas !" 
would they not fay, " Are thefc fplcndid gewgaws the objects for which 
« we counfelled, and for which we fell ; or has the king of Britain Subjected 
" our thirteen free and independent republics, and fent one of his royal 
" offspring to be emperor of America" ! 

The whole ground plot of the new wing is devoted to form one majeftic 
hall for the fittings of the Houfe of Representatives, excepting only the ne- 
ceffary entrances, lobbies, and Stair ways, all of which, together with the 
ground floor, wherein the offices are conveniently distributed by the fkill and 
judgment of its juftly celebrated architect, are nobly planned. 

But you may judge whether the modeft and tranquil members of American 
reprefentation, are likely to make themfelves heard with that calmnefs of 
mind and gravity of gefture fo becoming their proceedings) from the pit or 
centre, of a gigantic ellipfife, Surrounded with innumerable columns, which 
form fo many intermediate receffes, rifing over covered ways, and concealed 
club-rooms ,for the members to play hide and feek in, while the chaplain is 
r trading prayers, or the fpeaker calling to order) and communicating above, from 
ftory to ftory, with open veftibules, and lofty lodges, till it terminates, at a 
height of 90 or 100 feet, in a coved cieling, and a radiated fky light. 

A late letter from Wafhington declares that the -voice of the fpeaker s is fo 
completely lo/l in echo before it reaches the ear, that nothing can be heard difin6ily, either 
from the chair or the ir.emben. " It requires," fays the writer, " quite an effort to 
u catch with precifion from amidft the floating reverberations of the hall a 
" diftinct idea of what is palling." 

If it is now fo bad, what will it be when keen north-wefters fhall begin to 
howl through the long drawn paffages; and when driving fnow ftorms fhall rufh 
through the folding doors, fweep up the winding ftair cafes, break into the 
hall, pell mell, with the dripping members, and whirl round the Arabian cir- 
cle, in the very teeth of representative majefty. 



No. II. 

UPON THE MOCK-SOLEMNITY OF PUBLIC PRAYERS, AT THE 
OPENING OF THE TWO HOUSES. 

In one of the rhetorical fky-rockets that have been lately thrown up, over 
the Fedeial City, to illuminate our political horizon, there is a paffage intro- 
duced, by way of parenthefis, that appears to me ftriking enough, in the 
garb of Simple truth, to fix the attention of confiderate members of both 
Houfes. I know it arrefted mine (though it confifts but of three plain Sen- 
tences) more forcibly than all the Sparkling metaphors with which it was Sur- 
rounded, I mean the occaSional hint at that Solemn mockery of divine worfhip, 
which takes place in Congrefs, while the members are collecting in the lob- 
bies, and laying their heads together, in nooks and corners, on the buSineSs, or 
smuSemcnt of the day, 

This cuftom probably Superceded, in a bigotted age, the Still more bigotted 
praefifes of Supererogation, which were fo fondly cheriflied by our fore-fathers, 
when under the anti-fpiritual direction of the church of Rome. A mafs of 
the Holy Ghcft was then celebrated to Sanctify public proceedings ; and in like 



i 25 ) 

manner our puritanical anceflors gave form and folemnity to the adminiflra- 
tion of their church and (late inflitutes. But how fuch ceremonies obtained 
among the philofophers of the revolution congrefs, I am at a lofs to difcover : 
for, at that enlightened period, it was already known, and acknowledged, 
that "wvrjbip cannot be performed by proxy. 

Adopted however it was, by the Fathers of the American nation, and, in 
this inftance, we continue, like dutiful fons, to follow without fcruple the 
cuftoms of our progenitors. 

But, I hope the time is not far diftant, when Religion will no longer be 
difcredited, by being bandied about — for a ftate foot ball ; or toffed, up and 
down, in a political tennis court — when, in fhort, the felecl men of America 
will no longer offer unto the Lord an offering that is unclean, or that dieth of itfelf.—- 
See Haggai,u. II, 14. 

I remember to have read of fome celebrated dignitary of the church, I 
cannot recollect where, but I will repeat the anecdote from memory, that, 
when he was chaplain to Queen Anne (who was probably, like the reft of the 
Stuarts, more or lefs tinctured with indifference to the church of England) it 
was the courtly practice to read morning prayer, in an anti-chamber, as foon 
as her majefty ordered the door of her bed-room to be thrown open. One 
morning, after the Doctor had waited a long while, in his canonicals, a maid 
of honour was fent out to defire his reverence to go on luith the fervice ; for that 
the door could not be opened that day. " No, madam," faid this worthy fon of the 
church, as he indignantly withdrew, " tell your miftrefs, that 1 will never 
" whifper the word of God through a key-hole." 

In the orthodox fpirit of the above reply, it is devoutly recommended to the 
refpectable profeffors of the Chriftian faith, in both Houfes, to embrace the 
opportunity, which will be afforded by the formal opening of the next feffion, 
to prefs upon the confeiences of their honourable colleagues, the legiflators of 
a great and pious nation, the following folemn alternative :— .Either that the 
omniprefent Jehovah fhall not be addreffed, in the name of the Houfe, until 
the Speaker have announced the prefence of a quorum ; or that the incongru- 
ous preamble of public prayer be totally omitted. Seeing that the Al- 
mighty commanded the Children of Ifrael, by his fervant Mofes, 

Thou Jhalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. 

CLericus. 



No. HI. 

A DISSERTATION UPON THE POSSIBLE USES TO WHICH THE 
NEW CHAMBER FOR THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MIGHT BE APPLIED. 

To the Editor of the American Daily Advertiser. 

Having myfelf feen the inconveniencies of magnificent edifices, in foreign 
countries, I cannot forbear adding my opinion to that already expreffed in 
your judicious mifcellany, of the inaptitude of the new Congrefs hall for de- 

D 



( 26 ) 

liberative proceedings- It is evidently calculated for fhow rather than fervice, 
and can be fit for little or nothing, fo long as our government preferves the 
republican form. — If indeed it fhould ever become Imperial, like the repub- 
lique Francatfe a grand theatre, for date exhibitions, would then be wanted, 
and our pofterity would have to build one for themfclves, if we did not do it 
for them. But as long as things ftand as they are I think it can be of little or 
no ufe — like the Cathedrals in Europe, which every body knows are not re- 
forted to for the celebration of divine fervice, and are only crowded when 
there's a lordbilhop to be inftalled ; a king to be inaugurated; a royal in- 
fant to be chriftened, at the font; or a Te Deum to be fung at the altar; for 
fome fignal victory. Thofe profeffed temples of the God of Peace fervc 
indeed, at all times, as depositories for the confecrated trophies of trium- 
phant carnage, fuch as flags and flag ftaffs won from national enemies, on 
the ocean, or in the field. But we have no fuch purpofes in view, however 
brilliant they may be, and worthy the emulation of us plodding Americans ; 
•who are [ according to the concurrent teftimony of all European travellers, 
from the redoubtable Marquis de Chajlellux who marched through our coun- 
try, at the head of his regiment, to the puny whipfter, Anacreon Moon, 
who danced it over, with a courtezan in his hand, finging amorous ditties — 
" to his miftrefs' eye brow,") entirely engrojfed by the purfuits of avarice, and un- 
willing to devote a moment to pleafure, had zve even a tajle for the gaieties of life, or the 
elegancies of luxurious refinement** I therefore think it would be more advifable 
to pull down, than to repair the palaces at Wafhington. They are badly 
adapted to the occafional boifteroufnefs of our climate ; though they might do 
well enough in the even temperature of the fouth of Europe, where a Senatus 
Confultum might be held under the broad canopy of heaven. Here, I am per- 
fuaded, that fnug rooms, of moderate dimensions, will be found on compari- 
fon, much better adapted for fenatorial deliberations ; and the practice of our 
BritHh anceftors (for whofe notions of things we ftill retain fome natural 
prepoffeflions K fanctions this opinion. They too were taught by their cli- 
mate the inconvenience, as well as lafhed by their fatirift Pope for the abfur- 
dity, of 

" Calling the winds, through long arcades to roar, 
" Proud to catch cold, at a Venetian door." 

Vitruvius Americanus. 

* See an admirable effusion of satiric wit, poured out upon the graceless head of 
this licentious songster, by some un-marked genius of our native growth, in the Li- 
terary Magazine for September 1806 (a work then edited by the judicious and pa- 
triotic Charles B. Brown.) It first appeared in a Virginia Gszette, in lillabullero to 
the little mocking-bird's too just description of our poor City of Waihington, toi»n 
vf Norfolk, &c. 



